the LA list for kinder here is handwriting, phonics, and ETC. eta: and whatever LA topics are covered in FIAR lessons

My niece is Annabel. I also like Annabelle and Anabel.

My DH's income is more than enough for us to live comfortably on, and I haven't brought in an income since DS1 was born. We have lived in the suburbs of two large cities in that time (Houston and now New Orleans).

I spent some time browsing the website for the Miquon School the other day after wondering the same things. I, too, have no real experience yet. C-rods are still playthings for my 4-5yos, who love them, and I'm reading the Miquon teacher's materials myself.

I bought mine recently at Barnes and Noble. It's adorable, laminated, and looks awesome on my wall! I have this one, and IIRC, it was about $10. I have the matching USA map, too.

I have a stainless steel Thermos brand water bottle that I bought at Target. Love that thing. I also use one of those hard plastic tumblers with a lid and straw.

Well, I didn't consider MWF, so I can't compare, but we are using FIAR and I could not be more excited! I also have a young Ker. He turned 5 in June. His 4yo siblings will be tagging along. I bought volumes 1-3 and chose ~18 books from them (some from each) that looked like they'd fit our interests. I plan to use some of the books I skipped next year for 1st grade. I'm adding phonics, handwriting, and math, and think it'll be a great year!

Congratulations! :D:D I second the recommendation of the Dr. Luke book. My twins and I did not get nursing down, but I have a good handful of friends who did do so. I know it can be done! I carried to 36 weeks, and brought my baby boy home with me right away. My baby girl was a smidge and needed some time in NICU. Having twins is a wild ride, but it's one I woudln't trade for the world!

Explode the Code? Dot-to-dot and maze workbooks? Playing with pattern blocks, geoboards, other math manipulatives? I'm just listing things my PK and kinder kids like to do.

I seem to equate "planning" with "buying" or "organizing". I've been "planning" what we're doing this next year, but really, that means buying and organizing. I use no planner. It's all open and go.

Link for what to do with c-rods? You got it! http://educationunboxed.com/ Your plan looks good to me!

Rain is keeping the temps tolerable in New Orleans today. But once it stops, the steaminess will be unbearable!

Good! I have the first 10 lessons of MEP Reception printed, ready to start with my little ones while I study up on Miquon. Actually, my whole PK/K math plan this year is written down as MEP-R and c-rod play. I wasn't sure when/if we'd get to "actual" Miquon, but it's looking like it'll be sooner rather than later. :D

Bumping this back up to say that I have now read through Notes to Teachers and am about 1/3 of the way through the First Grade Diary. I'm reading through at a clip as Bill suggested and it's KILLING me not to be taking copious notes, but OMG, this is SO exciting! What I'm reading totally makes sense to me. I can see doing these activities with my kids and loving it! Feeling like a big geek right now, but I'm OK with that. ;) Miquon, here we come!

I ordered from this store on Etsy. http://www.etsy.com/shop/inspireyourwalls?ref=seller_info I was *thrilled* with the quality of the vinyl. Went on smoothly, looked fantastic.

Mine knew all the letter names and basic sounds from watching Leapfrog Letter Factory before we started AAR pre-1. IMO, the meat of AAR pre-1 is in the phonemic awareness games, so even though the letter names and sounds were review for mine, I still find the program very valuable. We're about 1/3 of the way though, having started off doing 1-2 lessons a week (and sporadically at that) in January and recently have picked up the pace to 3-4 lessons a week as they're showing more interest in consistent school time.

My husband has a Mazda Protege5, which is the car they replaced with the Mazda5. They're very similar. We love it.

Three under 6 here, too. One booster, 2 car seats. LOVE our Toyota Sienna. Other vans that I would consider owning are the Kia and the Honda.

I taught 3rd at a Classical/CM school (pre-DH and kids) and we were always warned not to "kill the book". We rarely used lit guides, but instead held class discussions, took narrations, etc. I loved the way lit went with my classes, who (on the whole) loved to read and to learn. I think I'll lean the same way when my kids get old enough.

I have the alphabet book and have printed the pre-miquon book from the 2nd link. I can't decide if I see much value in either of those. Maybe I'm just not creative enough. I see much more value in the types of activities Rosie does with her 4yo in her videos. I'm hoping that getting to know actual Miquon will be good for us! I haven't looked at that first link. I will do so, thank you!

:thumbup1:

I had read a warning of yours on another thread about that! When I pulled the workbook out of the box, I thought, "OK, let's see this alien IQ test Bill mentioned." Sure enough. I appreciate the warning. I would have been scared for sure!

:lol: I am non-mathy (history degree), and watching the Education Unboxed videos is exactly what made me decide that maybe I wasn't too scared to try Miquon! I've been getting rods out and letting my young four and young 5yos play with them and we've started to play some of Rosie's games in the "Getting to Know the Rods" section (missing rod in a staircase, etc). I'm encouraged that we can all learn math differently than I was taught, together!

perfect! thanks!

I bought Annotations, First Grade Diary, and Notes to Teachers, along with the orange and red books. I'm not planning to use any of it for a while (spring at the earliest?), but I had read on here that Miquon required some time and effort on the part of the parent, so I'm getting a head start and familiarizing myself with it. Which to start with? Any suggestions or does it not matter?